In today’s episode of Framework, Jamie talks with Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance. Christine has worked with Moringstar for 25 years and focuses on retirement income planning. She is also the author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success.
With extensive training in investments with Morningstar, Christine has niched down to retirement income planning where she is viewed as a thought leader.
Jamie and Christine talk about her journey as she moved into the personal finance field with Morningstar and her insights on retirement income planning.
“I love the idea of helping advisors educate their clients so that they are part of the discussion so their clients are reasonably knowledgeable about the basics. I’d love to see the profession continue to move forward in that direction where the clients are engaged, educated partners.” ~ @christine_benz
Main Takeaways
- Advisors can truly add value for their clients from the planning side. As the industry matures, it will move more toward value-add planning and guidance for automated investing.
- There are simpler investment strategies and products than going the usual active management route. It can be a challenge to find the best business model to use because every individual has a different goal. This is where investor education is critical because it helps them better understand what it is they’re buying.
- The importance of asset allocation plays a huge role in retirement planning. In general, the goal is to make more money than you spend. It’s important to talk to your investor about having a cash flow instead of yielding toward high income-only investments.
- Retirement decumulation is an area that requires you to consider more factors, including how the market behaves, time horizons, people’s health, and more.
Links and Important Mentions
- Christine Benz
- Christine Benz on Twitter
- The Long View Podcast
- 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances by Christine Benz
- Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success by Christine Benz
- The Bucket Approach to Retirement Allocation by Jamie Hopkins
- Morningstar
- John Bogle
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